The Song Fight Bulletin Board

This is what I thought that other poll was about.

I always find choruses tricky... a lot of my songs don't have them at all. I guess that comes down to that lack of music knowledge again but I typically have a hard time structuring my song that way. At any rate, I'd have to say I never write choruses first. In the cases where I do actually have a chorus, I almost always write all of the verses first and then go back to write a chorus.

Verses usually come first.

I chose Other. I'm very inconsistent. It just depends on how the song comes to me. Sometimes it's the chorus first, sometimes it's the verse. Sometimes it's just a musical riff that I end up working around.

Steve

I usually write the lyrics to the song in the order it's listened to. 1st verse, chorus, and then the other verses. Once in a while I'll have a chorus in mind beforehand, but not often.

verses first then chorus.

I'll write a riff or jangly chord progression, and depending on whether I am able to sing and play it at the same time I'll make it a "wordy bit" (verse or chorus to the rest of you) or an instrumentaly bit. Then I'll write another bit and I'll play it and the first bit alternately to see which part sounds better coming first and second. Then I'll play them a few more times and then start making it up as I go, go off on a random tangent and get swept along by the whole euphoric zeal of making music up on the spot (at this point I start to visualise rabid hordes of fans in front of me screaming for more). After about an hour of this I try and snap out of it long enough to try and record whatever I did over a click and then spend the rest of the day programming drums to fit with the guitars.

or alternately, I'll be listening to a song and think "that's the shiz, time for a thieve methinks" and set about reproducing it with what I've got and once I've got a suitable interpretation I shuffle the notes and words and structure about so I don't get anybody saying "ein minuten bitte" lawsuit-o-rama. But most of the time that happens with bands like this so it doesn't matter. aha!

My songs tend to not have choruses, but merely distinct styles of verses.

And I usually write those in order.

I don't write choruses.

Chorus first - I usually try to write the verses based on what the chorus is like.

What's a bridge?

Are you being sarcastic?


I've always thought of a bridge as a resolution point in the song, where some type of deeper understanding of the story ties things together...thus the term bridge. I've also thought of it as a way to connect chorus and verse ideas, and sometimes as an alternate view to the story.


I am curious if there is a commonly accepted theoretical answer though... and how close my assumption is.

Other. I most often get a snippet of lyrics, usually some smartass way to express an idea related to the title/subject. As to where it falls in the resulting song, I never really know until it gets built around. Examples:

Between The Rain: I basically started with the line "Between the rain and the pain it's a wonder you're still here at all". It was strong enough to end each verse with, which I did instead of a full-on chorus.

Welcome To ____: Something about this title evoked disappointment. I still don't really know why. But the phrase "Unhappy mediums" came to me, and the entire story bloomed from that.

Red Zero: Written pretty much in linear order. But the whole thing stemmed from a one-line idea: "A big red zero at the top of the page".

When I have a story ready to break down into a song format, I already have a plot that I'm planning on driving home, which is going to be the chorus. But I've also got the verses chosen too. So it varies as to what part is "written" first.
But being that I have recorded on tape for years, old habits die hard. I never had the luxury of working on one short loop at a time, so when I record, I take it from the top. If I fuck up, I start it from the top again. I do quite often record multiple parts and vocal ranges. Then when it comes time to mix, I have options. I don't have to stop what I'm doing to re-record something when I'm in my mixing zone. It happens, but I try to avoid it.

Leaf wrote:Are you being sarcastic?

Yes, but only because I rarely use them.

I think I usually start at the beginning.

It's a story, though, so it could be anywhere.

Occasionally I have started with the chorus.
-bill

My strategy is just to write and write and write... I have the most success just fleshing out 'themes' with little thought to connecting parts, and afterwards things just seem to connect.

Other. I have a musical idea which has vague semblances of lyrics associated with it and then I type out what bits I have with -s to represent where something's missing (usually with a - per syllable), and it starts out with a lot of -s, and then as I play the song over and over in my head or on the piano I fill in the blanks.

I write songs in my head. All the parts, guitar, bass, drums, vocals. Then, I record it.